Golf club attachment



Filed July 29, 1958 Michael 6. Hurdzan 1N VEN TOR.

GOLF CLUB ATTACHMENT Michael G. Hurdzan, Columbus, Ohio, assignor toGoifers Swing-Clik, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio FiledJuly 29, 1958, Ser. No. 751,674

3 Claims. (Cl. 273186) The present invention generally relates to anattachment for golf clubs which will fit any standard golf club and maybe installed when the club is manufactured or may be added to any clubby the owner thereof and will effectively assist the user to developproper timing of his stroke so as to achieve maximum hitting power as aresult of optimum centrifugal force and will in no way whatsoever hinderthe normal use of the club since the club can be used for practice aswell as for play.

An object of the present invention is to provide an attachment for agolf club especially useful when practicing so that a golfer canproperly develop his timing and may be used when hitting golf balls orwhen only swinging without hitting the golf ball.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a golf clubattachment in accordance with the preceding object in which there isprovided a movable member or slide which slides longitudinally on theshaft of the golf club for indicating the proper place that the hands ofthe person using the golf club should uncock in his swing thusindicating to the user the point of maximum club head speed so that thatthis point of maximum club head speed can be coincided withthe instantof impact of the golf club head with the ball.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide a golfclub attachment which is simple in constructure, easy to install, easyto use, well adapted for indicating to the golfer the point of uncockingof his swing and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is an elevation of a golf club including the attachment of thepresent invention mounted thereon;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the stop member located at the lower end ofthe shaft of the club;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passingalong section line 3-3 of Figure 2 illustrating the details ofconstruction of the stop member;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the movable slide;

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the movableislide;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 66 of Figure 5 illustrating the constructionof the slide;

Figure 7 is a plan view of the clamp having the spring finger mountedthereon; and

Figure 8 is a side elevation of the spring clamp and finger.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the attachment of thepresent invention is shown mounted on a conventional golf club generallydesignated by the numeral 10 and including a handle 12, an elongatedshaft 14 and a head 16. Mounted adjacent the head 16 on the shaft 14 isa stop member generally designated by the 2,950,115 Patented Aug. 23,1960 a ICE numeral 18 and including a split clamp member 20 having apair of projecting ears 22 on each side of the split clamp for receivinga clamp screw 24 therethrough with the clamp screw serving to collapsethe split clamp 20 into clamping engagement with the shaft 14 inasmuchas the screw 24 is threaded through one ear and has a headed endengaging the outer surface of the other ear 22. Mounted on top of thesplit clamp 20 is a rubber cushion member 26 generally in the shape of acircular washer having a depending cylindrical central boss 28 thereonwhich is received within the split clamp 20. The rubber washer 26 aswell as the boss 28 is provided With'a longitudinal bore 30 for engagingaround the shaft 14. The

washer 26 and the boss 28 may be slit longitudinally for facilitatingthe insertion of the rubber member onto the shaft 14. Thus, bytightening the screw 24 in an obvious manner, the clamp 20 and therubber resilient washer or stop member 26 may be mounted rigidly on theshaft 14.

Slidably disposed on the shaft 14 is a slide or weight member generallydesignated by the numeral 32 and in-' cluding a pair of facing members34 and 36 each being generally semi-cylindrical in construction andhaving a semi-cylindrical recess 38 in the facing surfaces thereof. Themembers 34 and 36 are held into engagement with each other by fasteningscrews 40 with the recess 38 -cooperating to slidably engage the shaft14 without clamping the shaft 14 thus providing free sliding movement ofthe slide 32. The exterior surface of the members 34 and 36 is providedwith an inwardly extending concave portion 42 adjacent the upper endthereof together with an outwardly extending rib or rim 44 at the upperend thereof which projects beyond the concave portion 42 as illustratedin Figure 5. It is noted that the member 34 is provided with recesses 46receiving the heads of the screws 40 thus providing a smooth exteriorsurface to the slide 32.

A clamp and clip assembly generally designated by that the roundedportion 60'will be engaged with the concave surface 42 and it is pointedout that the surfaces 60 and 42 are complementary to each other so thatthe spring clip 58 will hold the slide 32 in its uppermost positionuntil centrifugal force overcomes the frictional engagement of thespring clip 58 whereupon the slide 32 may slide outwardly and engage therubber stop member 26 for indicating the place that the users handsshould be uncocked in his swing.

The purpose of this attachment when used in actual play is intended toassist the user to time the uncocking of his wrist action so thatmaximum club head speed can be achieved at the instant of impact withthe ball. The inability of the novice golfer to achieve this action atthe proper time is one of the major causes of loss of hitting power andlack of proper flight control. Since perfection of timing cannot becontrolled by visual observation due to the speed of movement of thegolf club, the present device overcomes this problem by providing anaudible timing device in order to assist the golfer in improving histiming so as to achieve maximum hitting power and directional flightcontrol. The desired result can be achieved in the following manner: Asthe golfer addresses the ball, slide 32 is held in top position by thespring catch 58 throughout the back stroke. As the downstroke of theclub is initiated, slide 32 continues to be held in place by springcatch 58 until such time as the golfer forcibly uncocks his wrist or thecentrifugal action of the club head brings about this action. If forceduneocking of wrist by the golfer is premature club head speed willdevelop high in the downstroke (club head action catching up with handaction) thus causing slide 32 to release from spring catch 58 and propelitself down shaft 14 of the club and thus striking the stop member 26prior to impact of the golf club head with the ball and indicating tothe golfer that the hitting action was premature. Having had this faultindicated audibly, the golfer may easily correct this timing fault bydelaying the uncocking of his wrist until later in the downstroke,thereby delaying the release of slide 32 from spring catch 58 untillater in the downstroke.

When the golfer has achieved this delayed action, slide 32 upon releasefrom spring catch 58 will strike the stop 26 at the precise instant ofimpact between the golf club head and the ball thereby indicatingaudibly the achievement of perfect timing. If, on the other hand, theuser delays the uncocking of his wrist to a point too late in thedownstroke, slide 32 as a result will be released from spring catch 58correspondingly late and this will be indicated audibly to the golfer bythe pound of the impact of the club head with the ball prior to thesound of slide 32 coming into contact with stop 26. Thus by using thedevice of the present invention, the novice golfer can further hisunderstanding of the complexity of the stroke thereby enabling him toenjoy better golf through selfendeavor. Also, teaching professionals canuse the invention to great advantage to teach proper timing of thestroke so that maximum hitting power is obtained from each stroke and sothat precise directional control of the flight of the ball can be had.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In combination with a golf club having a head for contact with a golfball, an elongated shaft and a handle on the upper end of the shaft, astop member longitudinally adjustably mounted on said shaft andincluding a split clamp for clamping engagement on the shaft in spacedrelation to the head, a resilient bumper on said stop member, a slidefreely longitudinally slidably mounted on said shaft with the slidebeing in the form of a weight having a peripheral rib on the upper endthereof, a two piece clamp disposed on the shaft adjacent the handlewhereby the two piece clamp may be disassembled from the shaft, onepiece of said two piece clamp having a spring clip integral therewith,said spring clip extending alongside of the shaft and including arounded inwardly extending projection for engagement behind the shoulderon the slide thereby frietionally and resiliently retaining the slideadjacent the handle of the golf club with centrifugal force caused byuncocking of the golf club causing the slide to unlatch itself from'thespring catch and move outwardlyto hit the cushion on the stop memberwith an impact.

2. In combination with a golf club having a head, shaft and handle, astop member mounted on the shaft in spaced relation to the club head, aslide slidably mounted on said shaft above the stop member, and a springcatch means mounted on said shaft adjacent the handle for normallyretaining the slide in a position adjacent the handle with the springcatch means being overcome by centrifugal force occurring duringuncocking of a golfers wrist during a golf swing whereby outwardmovement of the slide to contact the stop member will audibly indicateto the golfer the point of maximum club head speed so that the point ofmaximum club head speed may be coincided with the instant of impact ofthe club head with a ball, said slide including a Weight having aconcave external surface adjacent the upper end thereof with aperipheral rib on the upper edge, said spring catch means including atwo piece clamp with one piece of the clamp provided with a spring clipextending axially thereof having a rounded surface for engagement withthe concave surface of the slide and the rib thus resilientlyfrictionally retaining the slide in its uppermost position, said stopmember including a split clamp removably attached to the shaft, and abumper of resilient material disposed on the surface of the split clampfacing the sl de whereby the slide will engage the resilient bumper durng the outward movement thereof for cushioning the sl de but yetproviding an audible sound as well as providing a cushioned shock to thegolf club shaft and handle for indicating to the golfer by sound and byfeel the polnt of greatest club head speed, said bumper including a bossextending downwardly into the split clamp whereby clamping of the splitclamp onto the shaft will mamtam the bumper in position.

3. An attachment assembly for a golf club having a head, shaft andhandle comprising a stop member adapted to be mounted on the shaftadjacent the head, a slide adapted to be slidably mounted on the shaftabove the stop member, and a spring catch means adapted to be mounted onthe shaft adjacent the handle and normally retaining the slide in aposition adjacent the handle with the spring catch means adapted to beovercome by centrifugal force occurring during uncocking of a golferswrist during a golf swing with the club whereby outward movement of theslide to contact the stop member will audibly indicate to the golfer thepoint of maximum club head speed so that the point of maximum club headspeed may be coincided with the instant of impact of the club head witha ball, said slide including a weight having a concave external surfaceadjacent the upper end thereof with a peripheral rib on the upper edge,said spring catch means including a two-piece clamp adapted to beclamped onto the handle with one piece of the clamp provided with alongitudinally extending spring clip adapted to extend alongside of theshaft, the outer end of the spring clip having a rounded surface on theinner surface thereof for engagement with the concave surface of theslide whereby the rounded surface engagin g the rib on the slide willresiliently and frictionally retain the slide in its uppermost position,said stop member including a split clamp adapted to be removablyattached to the shaft, and a bumper of resilient material disposed onthe surface of the split clamp facing the slide whereby the slide willengage the resilient bumper during the outward movement thereof forcushioning the slide but yet providing an audible sound as well asproviding a cushion for the shock of the slide hitting tne stop memberthus further indicating to the golfer by sound and by feel the point ofgreatest club head speed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS272,974 Pearce Feb. 27, 1883 516,602 Kershaw Mar. 13, 1894 1,559,546Bosket Nov. 3, 1925 2,135,648 Stumpf Nov. 8, 1938 2,203,893 Chapman June11, 1940 2,326,941 Heitner Aug. 17, 1943 2,608,409 Pinkerton Aug. 26,1952

